Hand-setting mechanism for timepieces



S. W. BALCH- Inv entol 1,375,347, Patented Apr. 19; 1921.

o T P UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE.-

SAMUEL w. BALCH, or MONTGLAIR, NEW JERSEY.

HAND-SETTING MECHANISM FOR TIMEPIECES.

Specification of Letters Patent. Pate t d Af 19; 192

Application filed June 5, 1920. Serial No. 386,874.

Timepieces, of which the following is a specification. V

This application is filed as a continuation in part of my application filed May 24, 1919, Serial No. 299,408, for a combined siderial and mean solar timepiece.

The object of this invention is .to provide a timepiece having a seconds hand with means for concurrently setting all of the hands by the setting backward or forward ofnthe driving mechanism without introducing any disturbance that would tend to alter its rate by adding to or taking from the power delivered to the balance wheel during the setting of the timepiece. A further object is to provide for a record of the amount of the setting. A further object is to provide means for reading the time which the timepiece would otherwise show if it had not been set.

In the accompanying sheet of drawings which forms a part of this application 7 Figure 1 is a front view of the auxiliary frame and parts carried thereby in full lines together with the relative position of the ,wheelworks in dotted lines. V

Fig. 2 is a section on the line IIII of Fig. 1.

Fig. 3 is a view of the seconds hand, seconds dial, and face setting indicator.

Fig. 4 is a view of the rear setting indicator.

In the drawings the number of teeth is attached to the gears and each of the gear trains have been choosen so that no two gears will have the same number of teeth for the convenience of utilizing these numbers as reference numerals. It is obvious that in the case of any pair of meshing gears that other numbers of teeth in the same ratio may be substituted, and that the required gear trains may be made up in many different ways and have the required ratlosbetween the several hand carryin arbors. b

The timepiece carries the usual minute hand 6, hour hand 9, and seconds hand j, and the dials, motive power, controlling means and connecting gear train may be of any usual type. The bearings for the gear trams are in a main frame m. The timeplece is controlled by a balance wheel Z which constitutes the controlling means and engages an escape wheelQO. The escapement shown is of. the. chronometer type in which the escape wheel is released one tooth to each double swing and at the time of release an escape wheel tooth engages the verge 'v and imparts an impulse to the balancewheel'at its mid swing in one direction. At other times the escape wheel is detained by a detent pallet w. The-balance wheel and the means for holding the escape wheel, in this case the detent pallet,

together with any other parts which are intimately associated with the balance wheel are mounted in a circularly adjustable auxliary frame a. This auxiliary frame is set 1n a circular opening in the back plate of the main frame in which it can be turned. Its axis coincides with the axis of the escape wheel. wheel arbor is at the center of this auxiliary frame and the other bearing is in the front plate of the main frame. The balance wheel is carried eccentrically in the auxiliary frame, and it is important in order that this frame may not be unduly large, that the escapement beof a character which permits the balance-wheel arbor to be set close to theescape wheel, but the invention is not restricted to the chronometer type of escapement by this condition.

The auxiliary frame is provided with a post p which projects through the back cover 9 of the timepiece and affords a means for circularly adjusting the auxiliary frame to set the hands. The post carries a pointer 0" which moves over graduations on the cover when the auxiliary frame is turned and constitutes. a rear setting indicator. For further convenience the amount of adjustment is shown by an additional face One bearing .of the escapesetting indicator which is in the form of a mark 8 on a circular disk 25 set concentric with the seconds dial. The auxiliary frame is connected with this indicator through a train of gearing consisting of a gear on the edge of the middle plate of the auxiliary frame with 100 teeth. This meshes with a gear having 25 teeth on an arbor with a gear of 11 teeth meshing with a gear of l i teeth on an arbor with a gear of 15 teeth meshing with a gear of 90 teeth which turns the disk with the face setting indica tor. The ratio of this train is equivalent to the ratio between the gear of 10 teeth on the escape-wheel arbor which meshes with the gear of 60 teeth on the seconds-hand arbor. The equivalence of the ratios may be expressed as follows:

The rate of the balance wheel, the number of teeth in the escape wheel and the ratio between the escape wheel and the seconds hand are chosen so that there will be a whole number of beats per second and the ratio will also be a whole number so that a whole number of seconds will be comprised in a complete turn of either setting indicator. One of the above described trains consists of one pair of meshing gears and the other consists of three pairs of' meshing gears. The number in one case being odd the other should also be odd as well as having an equivalent ratio so that in any setting of the timepiece the face setting indicator is set in the same direction and to the same amount as the seconds hand, and the seconds hand, in consequence is not set with respect to this indicator so that by comparison therewith the rate of the timepiece over any interval may be ascertained without having to takeinto account any intermediate setting of the timepiece.

The gears 12 and 120 of the power train are fastened together and are frictionally connected to the center arbor sci that the minute and hour hands may be set directly as is usual, but such setting is contemplated only when the timepiece has stopped and on starting again a large error has to be taken up.

In taking up the small errors which are inevitable in any timepiece, the errorin seconds is noted on the receipt of a time signal and at convenience thereafter the auxiliary frame is circularly adjusted so as to carry either indicator in the-proper direction over as many graduations as the error to be taken up. Reading to the nearest beat is more accurately made on the rear indicator as the graduations are morewidely spaced and the beat subdivisions of the seconds are provided and there is no intervening gear train the backlash of which might introduce slight errors.

What I claim, is-

1. In a timepiece, hands therefor, controlling means therefor, a main frame with bearings for the hand arbors, a connecting gear train, an auxiliary frame by which the controlling means is carried and which is circularly adjustable about the axis of one of the arbors of the connecting gear train for setting the timepiece, a setting indicator, and connecting means between the auxiliary frame and the setting indicator by which the setting of any portion of a minute is indicated.

2. In a timepiece, hands therefor, controlling means therefor, a main frame with bearings for the hand arbors, a connecting gear train, an auxiliary frame by which the controlling means is carried and which is circularly adjustable about the axisof one of the arbors of the connecting gear train for setting the timepiece, a setting indicator having the same axis as the seconds hand, and connecting means between the auxiliary frame and the setting indicator by which the amount of the setting is indicated on the seconds dial.

3. In a timepiece, hands therefor, controlling means there or, a main frame with bearings for the hand arbors, a connecting gear train, an auxiliary frame by which the controlling means is carried and which is circularly adjustable about the axis of one of the arbors of the connecting gear train for setting the timepiece, a setting indicator having the same axis as the seconds hand, and a connecting train between the auxiliary frame and the setting indicator which has the same ratio: as theratio which the arbor about the axis of which the auxiliary frame is adjustable bears to the seconds hand.

4. In a tii'nepiece, an escape wheel, a connected driving train, a main frame by which the driving train is carried, an auxiliary frame which is circularly adjustable about the axis of the escane wheel for setting the timepiece, and controlling means for the escape wheel which is carried by the auxiliary frame. I

5. In a timepiece, an escape wheel, a connected driving train, a main frame by which the driving train is carried, a seconds hand, a seconds dial, an auxiliary frame which is circularly adjustable about the axis of the escape wheel for setting the timepiece, controlling means for the escape wheel which is carried by the auxiliary frame, a setting indicator having the same axis as the seconds hand, and connecting means between the auxiliary frame and the setting indicator by which the amount of the setting is indicated on the seconds dial.

6. In a timepiece, an escape wheel, a connected driving train, a main frame by which the driving train is carried, a seconds hand connected to one of the arbors 0f the driving train, a seconds dial, an auxiliary frame Which is circularly adjustable about the axis of the escape Wheel for setting the timepiece, controlling means for the escape Wheel which is carried by the auxiliary frame, a face setting indicator having the same axis as the seconds hand, and a connecting train between the auxiliary frame and the face setting indicator which has the same ratio as the connecting train between the escape Wheel arbor and the seconds hands arbor. I

SAMUEL W. BALOH. 

